Secrecy and Security News

July 2003

The Right and Wrong Stuff of Thinking Outside a Box by Christopher Marquis, New York Times, July 31. "The Pentagon branch responsible for developing technology and techniques for warfare stumbled badly this week by devising a plan for people to bet on future terrorist attacks. Yet in pressing an idea that senators quickly denounced as absurd, DARPA is doing what it is supposed to do -- think outside the box."

Anti-terror research not under lock, key by Ian Hoffman, Oakland Tribune, July 30. "In a bow to scientists, the Bush administration is allowing most anti-terror research to remain free and open -- for now."

Intelligence Critics Urge U.S. to Look to British Spy Agency by Don Van Natta, Jr., New York Times, July 26. "The movement in the United States to create an organization like MI5 gained momentum in November after an advisory group led by James S. Gilmore III, a former governor of Virginia, recommended that a new agency should take over domestic intelligence gathering."

9/11 Report Ups Heat On Saudis, Washington by Marc Perelman, Forward, July 18. "The Bush administration, already embattled over its use of doubtful intelligence in building its case for the war against Iraq, is gearing up for renewed scrutiny over reports that it has hampered investigations of the September 11 attacks."

Pentagon Alters LifeLog Project by Noah Shachtman, Wired News, July 14. "The Defense Department has changed the parameters of the project to respond to a tide of privacy concerns."

PhDisaster?, Bob Garfield, On the Media, National Public Radio, interviews FAS' Steven Aftergood, July 13. "There are vulnerabilities all around us, and the idea that if not for this or that piece of information, we could be perfectly secure, is an illusion."

Escalating secrecy wars by Bill Berkowitz, Working for Change, July 9. "For an administration obsessed with secrecy, the recent musings of Dr. James B. Bruce might be just what the doctor ordered."

Bush administration most secretive since King George by Charles N. Davis, Contra Costa Times, July 5. "Long before the events of Sept. 11, 2001, provided it with a convenient catchall excuse for hiding its actions from public scrutiny, ours was a government enamored with classification for classification's sake."

U.S. Develops Urban Surveillance System by Michael Sniffen, Associated Press, July 1. "The Pentagon is developing an urban surveillance system that would use computers and thousands of cameras to track, record and analyze the movement of every vehicle in a foreign city."

DoD Tested Weapons On Thousands by Robert Gehrke, Associated Press and CBS, July 1. "The Defense Department released the final findings of an investigation into Project 112 and Project SHAD, which were conducted from 1962 to 1973 to test the combat capabilities of biological and chemical agents and ways to protect U.S. troops from such attacks."